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.B89 






Copy 


1 






! 

COL. J. E. BRYANT i 

1 




OF G-EOPIOIA., 

1 




,^N1> 




j 

The Washington Chronicle. 




(?0L. BkYANT was assailed in the ClIKONICLl-:, 




AND Col. Foeney eefused to publish 




A Card in keply. 




WASHING TUX, 1'. r. 




1870. 



.13 sq 



•z^^^i 



WAS IT HONORABLE'? 



The following article uppoared in tlie Alornhuj Chronicle 
on i^ronda}', tlio Ttli instant : 

APilUN'AL OF THE GEORGIA DELEGATION. 

llou. Foster Blodgett, of Georgia, accompanied by three judges of 
the Superior Court and two Republican member.s of the Legislature of 
ihat State, arrived in this city on Friday night for the purpose of laying 
before the President and CongreiBS official communications from Gov- 
ernor Bullock announcing that the State Legislature had properly 
organized under the act of Congress of December 22 last, and had 
adopted the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution. 
General Terr}', commander of the military district of Georgia, is also 
expected to arrive here this morning, and will probably accompany the 
delegation on the occasion of an expected call upon the President to-day 
or to-morrow. Should Congress take the necessary steps looking to 
the admission of the State, both houses of the Legislature will, at their 
meeting, on the 14th or 15th instant, hold a joint convention for the 
election of Senators. The Republicans have a majority of thirty-five 
on a joint ballot, and will undoubtedly elect their candidates, one of 
whom is Mr. Blodgett. 

Another delegation, headed by one Bryant, a renegade Republican, 
is also in town, and will endeavor to impede the restoration of the State 
to the Union. Bryant was formerly in the Republican ranks, but fail- 
ing in his aspirations for nomination for one of the Seuatorships, 
deserted to the Democracy, and is now the head of a faction in the State 
familiarly known as the "Bryant Democracy" — a faction which is 
despised by the true Republicans, and which receives little countenance 
from the simon-pure Democrats. A dispatch from Atlanta, published 
in yesterday's issue, states that a staunch Democratic journal of that 
place denomuos Bryant and those with him ns a self-constituted party, and 



also deuouuccs his motives in atteuiptiug to iuteifore with the rccogni- 
^ tion of the Statf legi^hifnri' ami the admihsinu of the State to its place 
pj in the Union. 

*^ I requested the editor to piiLlisli the Ibllowiiig reply, which 
'n:;^ he refused to do. I ask fair-miuded men^ was it honorable 
to assail a man thus and refuse to jmhlish his reply? 

J. E. BRYANT. 

WABHiN<;i()\. D. ('.. Fehraani 3, 1870. 

A CAllD. 

Editor Moi'iiiiuj Chroniclr : 

Sill — I read with sur|)risc and regret au editorial in your 
paper of this morning, in which you speak of myself as a 
^'renegade Republican/" and state that, ^'failing in his 
aspirations for nomination for one of the Seuatorships, de- 
serted to the Democracy, and is now the head of a faction in 
the State fsimilia-rly known as the ^ Biyant Democracy.'" 
I was a Union soldier ; I w^ent to Georgia in 1865, and in 
1866 commenced the publication of the "Loyal Georgian," 
one of the first papers in the South that advocated the equal 
political rights of all men. I was a delegate to the conven- 
tion of ''Southern Loyalists" that met in Philadelphia in 
the fall of 1866, and, as a member of the Committee on Reso- 
lutions, earnestly advocated the adoption of a resolution 
favoring universal suffrage. I assisted in organizing the 
Republican party of Georgia, and organized the party in the 
5tli Congressional district. I was the only white man who 
canvassed that district in the gubernatorial campaign. The 
district gave Governor Bullock eight thousand majority, and 
he had but seven thousand majority in the State ; thus it 
will be seen that he was elected by the vote of the 5th 
district. 

I was secretary of the State Central Committee during the 
two first political campaigns, and chairman of the Executive 
Committee during the Presidential campaign. I was also 
a member of the Constitutional Convention ; was the Repub- 
lican candidate for Elector in the fifth Congressional dis- 



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LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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trict during- the late rresideutial caiupaigu, aiul am n^.s ;i 
member of the General Assembly. During all this time 1 
have been an cmtspolcen Republican, and am to-day. I am 
not a leader of any Democratic organization, but am chair- 
man of the Executive Committee of '•' The National Repub- 
lican Club," a Eepublican organization in Georgia, which 

numbers among its members some of tlio ablest ReiAiblicans 

* . . . . 

in Georgia. I am also at tins time tiio editor of the Georgia 

Repuhlican , an outsj^olcen Rc^jirililican ])a]H.M\ ])nblisbod nt 
Augusta, Georgia. 

I ask, injustice to myselt", that nou will give tliis card as 
conspicuous a jdaco in your ]ia])er as you did tiie article at- 
tacking me. 

A^M'y ies])ectt'nlly, 

J. K. 1511 V A NT. 

\^'ASnrN(;rt)N, 1). ('., FiJiruiirii 1. 1870. 



As members ot the delegation of iiepublicans from Geor- 
gia, wlio are opposed to tbe course pursued by Governor 
Bullock, Ave feel it our iluty to add a note to tlic card of 
Colonel Bryant. Inste.id of coming to Washington " to 
impede the restoration of fhe State to the Union," we have 
come to secure that rcstornrion at the earliest possible day, 
in strict accordance with, the late act of Congress for thf 
promotion of reconstruct ion in Georgia. We know no man 
on our line who has deserted to the Democracy, or in the 
slightest degree departed from his i-ocord as a true Repub- 
lican. 

J. 11. CALDWELJ.. 

Meiii/j'.r NdlionuL Republican Convention, 

iDiil Rpiinblican Mcmher Georgia Leyislalv.m. 

C. K. OSGOOD, 
A. J. WILLIAMS, 

Rc'/'ublir/tn Members of Geor(/i<T^e(jishit:i> re . 

J. BOWLES, * 

L'-rff T.I. r,,]. r. s. \W/x. 



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